The origins and impact of parliamentary reform 1780-1860

Question 1

How did desire for reform ignite?

Answer 1

The War of American Independence was happening; MPs were attacked for raising taxes and increased government expenditure.
There were concerns over excessive use of patronage (control of appointing officers) by George III to win support for his policies in Parliament. - People wanted to reduce the power of the King, there was corruption.

Pitt proposed reforms in 1785- wanted to disfranchise 36 of the worst rotten boroughs, but failed to gain enough support in Parliament.

Question 2

Who supported reform?

Answer 2

Support for reform fluctuated:

• Often dependant on wider unrest
• Reformers inspired by the French Revolution
• Reform was suppressed by the government during the French wars of 1793-1815
• Renewed radical campaign for universal male suffrage from 1815-1820

Question 3

What did the middle class think?

Answer 3

Most property owning middle classes did not support the radicals:
Did not believe in universal male suffrage
Only those who owned property had a right to vote: property gave a person a stake in the country

Middle class people wanted some reform and wanted a say e.g. factory owners, bankers, merchants, shop keepers.
The rural south was over represented in the Commons; e.g Cornwall sent 42 MPs but Manchester had 0.

Question 4

What was the Catholic Emancipation in 1829?

Answer 4

Daniel O’ Connell’s campaign in Ireland forced the Tories to concede and grant Catholics full political rights:
- Wellington and Peel feared civil war: many Tories saw them as traitors.
- The Tories split in two: weakened their ability to block reform and enabled the -
- Whigs to come to power in 1830.
It showed the effectiveness of peaceful tactics combined with the threat of violence and undermined the King’s power.

Question 5

What happened when William IV came into power, 1830?

Answer 5

Death of George IV led to William IV succeeding and and election:

• Country entered a period of depression: poor harvests, rising unemployment, revival of radicalism, Swing Riots
• Tories narrowly won but lost a lot of their usual support
• Wellington made it clear he was opposed to any reform
• Whigs favoured reform: they were more confident than before and could gain the support of William IV
• Whigs formed a government in November 1830: embittered Tories joined with the Whigs to bring down Wellington

Question 6

What were political unions and why did they emerge?

Answer 6

The demand for reform increased during 1829-30:

• Economic discontent and growing fear of disorder
• French Revolution of July 1830: the Bourbon monarch, Charles X, was forced to flee, frightened the ruling classes in Britain, feared revolution
• Resurgence of reform agitation across Britain through political unions
• The Birmingham Political Union led by Thomas Attwood attracted mass support: aimed to reform Parliament, middle class and working class supporters
• Political unions were formed in the major towns and cities: London, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, applied pressure ‘out of doors’, many MPs took the view that to oppose reform might incite violence

Question 7

What did the Whigs want with reform?

Answer 7

The Whigs aimed to from Parliament:

• Remove the worst abuses of the political system e.g. abolish rotten boroughs
• But wanted to preserve rule by the landed classes, with the support of the middle classes.

A four man committee to draw up the terms: chaired by Lord Durham, Lord John Russell, large enough to satisfy public opinion, to afford sure ground of resistance to further innovation, based on property, based on existing territorial divisions, that would not risk overthrowing the existing form of government.

Question 8

Why did the First Reform Bill Flop?

Answer 8

Lord John Russell presented the reform bill to Parliament in March 1831:
It produced an ‘absolutely electrifying shock’: it went way beyond what many expected
Many boroughs would lose either one or both of their MP’s to be redistributed to new industrial towns
A uniform voting qualification in the boroughs: all those who owned or rented a house worth £10 a year in rent

Question 9

How did it fail?

Answer 9

It took eighteen months of bitter conflict to pass political reform.

It was passed by 302-301 but defeated in committee.
Asked William IV to call an election, the King was reluctant but Grey persuaded him that it would pacify the country, reform would be the best guarantee of peace and stability.

There was vast support for a bill for the working class men to get the vote- middle class reformers did not want this. The kept pressure on parliament and the King. There was a huge campaigning for the bill and indicated an impression of relentless desire for reform.

Question 10

How did the political unions respond to the Second Reform Bill?

Answer 10

Attwood and other middle class leaders of political unions needed to gain mass support to keep pressure on the Whigs but needed to avoid repression from the government. Parliament was under pressure from the Tory opponents of reform and the masses that formed. Reformers wanted peace and wanted to prove to the Tories of their strength. 
The Whig reform bill was deliberately designed to exclude the working classes, so that it could get passed.

A third reform bill was introduced in December 1831. The King was under pressure, and people were unsure whether the Lords would pass another reform bill, so he tried to add more peers in to the House of Lords to turn the favour to Whig. But Grey wanted 50 or 60 peers rather than how many the King was willing to give. There was speculation that the Whig government was weak.
The political temperature was rising as it took much stress in the house of Lords for the bill to be passed.